Japan slams South Korea statues of man resembling Shinzo Abe bowing to comfort woman

Thorny issue for both countries.

Julia Yeo | July 28, 2020, 06:52 PM

Japan has slammed recently-installed statue in South Korea that depict a man resembling Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe kneeling and bowing to a "comfort woman", represented by a statue of a girl.

Statue strains bilateral relations

The Chief Cabinet secretary of Japan, Yoshihide Suga, said at a news conference on Tuesday (July 28) that if media reports saying that the statue depicted Abe were true, it would be "unacceptable in terms of international courtesy" and would have a "decisive effect" on the relationship between Japan and South Korea, reported Nikkei Asian Review.

"Comfort women" are mostly Koreans forced to work in Japan’s brothels before and during World War II.

It has been a thorny issue between the two countries for decades.

In 2015, a bilateral agreement was made between Abe and former South Korean President Park Geun Hye where Abe apologised and pledged to set up a fund of one billion yen (S$13.1 million) to support the survivors, according to Kyodo News.

In exchange, the matter was regarded as "finally and irreversibly resolved by Japan", with a statue of a comfort woman placed in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul to be removed.

However, the current South Korean government of President Moon Jae In declared the agreement flawed, effectively voiding it, and formally dissolved the Reconciliation and Healing Foundation set up by Japan for the comfort women in 2019.

Korea Botanical Garden spokesperson said statue of bowing man is not Abe

A spokesperson from the privately-run Korea Botanical Garden housing the statue said that the artwork is not meant to represent Abe specifically, denying any political meaning behind it.

However, South Korean media outlets have quoted the local sculptor, Wang Gyung Hyun, who made the statues, as saying they are designed to show "forgiving is possible only if Japan continues to ask for atonement until South Korea accepts it", reported Kyodo.

A statue depicting a comfort woman, often called the "statue of peace" was first erected outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul in 2011, which strained bilateral relations between Japan and South Korea at the time.

Photo via Wikipedia Commons

The statue was removed in 2015 as per the agreement, but was later formally erected again in 2017 in Busan.

Similar statues depicting comfort women can also be found in other countries like the United States and China.

Top image via @queenswhorule/IG